Barangay Konoha
by ORIHIME-HIKOBOSHI
Summary: A retelling of the Naruto: Blank period if it was set in the Philippines. Obviously AU.
1. Chapter 1

Barangay Konoha: Chapter 1

Sasuke gritted his teeth for the umpteenth time for the past two minutes. How the pink-haired health center doctor can bear to listen to the obviously fabricated heroism of his blond tanod patrol partner is beyond him. He swore to god, if he hears the word "lodi" again he would-

"So yun nga buti na lang andun ako! Kung hindi, walang lodi na-" he heard the blond say again.

_Lodi_...

_Lodi_...

_Lodi_…

"Putangina Naruto saan mo ba nakukuha yang mga pinagsasabi mo?!" snapped the young Uchiha tanod. His coal-black eyes held a glint much sharper than it usually had. It successfully silenced the loudmouth at fault, his normally chatty mouth slack and agape. Sasuke sighted a fly casually land on the crevice where the blonde's upper and lower lips met and felt himself wince inwardly. _Kadiri_.

"Naruto." He began, talking slowly to calm himself down. "Kinagat ka ng aso dahil hinampas mo ng arnis si Kiba." From the corner of his eye, he saw Sakura's eyebrow arch quizzically, curious as to what the full story was. "That is not how you deal pag may nagpapatae ng aso sa kalsada." he finished.

At once he saw Naruto deflate and Sakura guffaw. He noticed color rise to her cheeks as she stifled a barrage of laughter brought forth by the embarassing revelation. He suddenly remembered the last time the three of them were together. Was it two, three years ago? He was leaving for law school then and Sakura for her residency when Naruto decided he would treat them to his favorite mami at Ichiraku. Since he dropped out and came back, he was not able to see much of Sakura due to her work at the health center and medical missions; and he saw too much of Naruto as he was assigned to be his partner for his barangay tanod duties. Appraising her once more as she wiped tears of laughter from the corner of her eyes, he decided that she was and not quite the girl he grew up with. Her laughter still had the same airy lilt and her words were spoken in the soothing cadence he was used to. Yet, her voice also reverberated the firmness and confidence of a woman who worked hard and is proud of what she has accomplished. It was arresting, the Uchiha allowed himself to admit.

"Alright, I get the picture." an amused Sakura said as she scribbled something down in a little booklet. "As a tanod hindi ka dapat nagsisimula ng away, though I don't approve of dog shit around the streets either. Dapat pinabarangay mo na lang instead of this." she gestured to Naruto's bandaged calf. She sighed and handed the little booklet to Naruto. "We're good for now, but I need you to come back here on the dates I wrote para makumpleto yung buong set ng rabies shots, okay?"

Naruto peered at the dates and felt warmth drain from his body. Four more shots? It can't be right. He mustered a sheepish smile at Sakura. "Sakura-chan, this can't be right. Sigurado ka ba na kailangan pa ng apat na injection?" Sasuke tutted in amusement beside him.

"Definitely." was Sakura's decisive reply. "Napanood mo naman yung rabies public service ad noong bata tayo right?" she added, looking at the blonde pointedly. Naruto nodded and gulped dryly at the memory of that haunting television ad he saw as a kid. "You should've thought about it before you tried attacking a man with a trained dog."

The blonde sighed in defeat and rose from his monobloc seat. The Uchiha followed suit. "Foooooine Sakura-chan. Kitakits on these dates." he said, waving the little booklet like a flag. "I guess, it's a date?" he added, laughing at his quip from their childhood together. Before Sasuke could even cast his infamous glare, the blonde was hit on the head by the nearest item Sakura could grab from her desk.

A box of Trust condoms.

Naruto bent down and picked it up gingerly. "Whoa sakto, Hinata-chan and I need this." he marvelled, brandishing the box of condoms using the same hand where he wore his wedding ring. The shiny metal caught the light and set off a gleam that made Sakura quite conscious of her own state of affairs, or rather, lack of.

"You sure do, mahirap na pag dumami ang katulad mong ungas." came Sasuke's reply. Sakura pushed back her earlier thoughts and managed another giggle, sinking back into the comfort of her swivelly office chair. The edge of Sasuke's lips involuntarily curled up at the sound.

Naruto clutched his heart and looked at Sasuke and then at Sakura. "Ouch, you guys wound me. Ngayon na lang tayo nagkasama ulit, tag team nyo pa ako yuyurakan."

Sakura smiled and shook her head, stealing a glance at the Uchiha. Him who is the embodiment of all that is virile and mysterious and beautiful. She allowed her gaze to linger on his face, his body for a mere moment longer than she normally allowed herself to for fear that her well-trained countenance would crumble back to when it was during their younger days. When she felt something in her chest doing somersaults, she quickly averted her gaze and busied herself with shooing the two out of her clinic. "Remember, kailangan bumalik for the next shots. Sasuke-kun make sure you bring him to all schedules, I'm sure he'll do anything to skip them." she called after them, trying to get the last words in the exchange as her way of reassuring herself that she regained control.

Naruto waved his hand in acknowledgement of the doctor's orders as he retreated. Ambling behind him at a much relaxed phase was Sasuke, a little smirk forming at his lips. He saw Sakura looking earlier. With a quick sleight of hand he grabbed the post-exposure prophylaxis booklet from Naruto's grip, intent on following Sakura's orders. He could hear Naruto whimper on his side as he looked down and quickly memorized all the dates they need to come back to the clinic. He swiftly tossed the booklet back to Naruto. Thinking to himself that if the earlier encounter was the consequence of the blonde's stupidity, then Naruto is welcome to get himself bitten by a dog as often as he pleased.


	2. Chapter 2

**Barangay Konoha: Chapter 2**

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Sasuke brought the soda bottle towards his mouth and took a swig, enjoying the shock of the cold, fizzy drink hitting his palate. The summer had been sweltering and the heat burned his skin even during his late afternoon patrols.

"Sobrang init, potek! Sasuke ang lapot-lapot ko na!" Naruto whined, squirming by his side under the tarpaulin shade of the sari-sari store. They just finished aiding a senior citizen event and they were glad for the shade the tarp brought even if it did nothing to alleviate the heat.

"Wag kang dumikit sakin, ang lagkit ng pawis mo ungas ka." Sasuke snapped when Naruto's sweaty forearm touched his. "I can't believe we have another of this to do tomorrow."

Naruto was now wiping his face with the cold soda bottle. "Kaya nga pero sana naman di na ganito kainit bukas." He lifted his arms to smell his armpits. "Amoy chakra na ako gaddamnet!"

.

The next day was not any more forgiving.

In fact, it was worse.

If yesterday's event was a benefits seminar where around 20 or so geezers joined, today was a free medical event. The amount of people accumulating in the covered court was at least triple the amount from yesterday. The teenagers from the Sangguniang Kabataan headed by Konohamaru and his clique ushered the elders and answered questions while the tanods ensured order and safety.

"I don't understand why Kakashi decides to have these things in the middle of summer." Naruto said, pertaining to the barangay captain-elect. "Pano kung may matandang mahimatay sa init, e ako nga di na makahinga." he added as they sat down on a table on the side, ready to eat their distributed packed lunch.

"Hubarin mo muna kasi yang chaleco mo." Sasuke quickly said, already shoveling a spoonful of rice to his mouth as Naruto shrugged off his tanod vest. His back was already stained dark from the sweat.

"Kung tayo nanlilimahid na, pano pa kaya sina Sakura no?" remarked Naruto, gesturing to the doctors providing service to the elders.

Sasuke's eyes quickly scanned the crowd for a head of pink and quickly spotted the doctor in question. He found her, wearing a long-sleeved doctor's coat over her civilian clothes just like Tsunade and Shizune who were at her either side. She was all smiles just the same and if it weren't for her forehead glistening with sweat, he could've swore everything was well and good. She glanced up as she handed her patient his prescription and saw him looking at her. She flashed him a smile and nodded.

Flustered he was caught, Sasuke shoveled another mouthful of rice to his mouth, alluding the heat he felt rising to his cheeks as being caused by the weather.

The crowd started to disperse as the sun started to set. Sakura was seeing the last of the patients waiting for their turn on her queue while the rest of the staff were in the last moments of egress. The two other doctors had left early as they have another medical mission tomorrow at the neighboring barangay. Sakura was just glad that her tomorrow is her free day that she didn't mind taking the rest of the patients.

Evening crept in when she said goodbye to her last patient, earning a "Salamat mam Sakura." and a toothy smile from an ancient-looking little lady. She laced her fingers together and brought them above her head, relishing the relief the stretch gave her.

"That took you long enough."

Sakura moved her head to where the voice came from and found Sasuke sitting on the bleachers. She looked around the vicinity and saw that everything had already been tidied and everyone gone, leaving the two of them the only people in the covered court.

"Asan na silang lahat?" she asked, putting her things in her bag. She was able to put on a quick smile when she saw him looking at her earlier, but now was different. The emptiness of the place weighed on her just like the balmy evening air.

"Nauna na. Hanggang alas-kwatro lang naman talaga yung event." he came, expertly dismantling the folding chair and table that was her office for the day.

"Ah, okay." she replied as she shrugged out of her doctor's coat. "Dapat di ka na naghintay, Sasuke-kun."

He cocked his head to the now-folded table and chair he was carrying. "Ibabalik ko pa to sa barangay." Sasuke wouldn't dare admit that he offered to stay behind to keep watch on her. And somebody really needed to bring the table and chair back, so…

Sakura pulled the corners of her lip in a tight smile as she nodded. Of course he wouldn't stay behind to wait for her, as much as she wanted to hear from him. She had made the rookie mistake of confessing her feelings for him on the evening he was bound to leave for law school in Oto. And they never had the chance to talk about it while he was away. She was embarassed enough not to be able to elicit a sort of response from him from her confession. Thay was why Sakura made sure that Naruto was always there when they video called and her messages were always sent in their group chat. He also never asked her about it anyway, even after he came back. Not that they really had a chance to, given his eventual duties as a tanod and her as barangay doctor.

"I could've taken that back, babalik pa rin naman ako sa health center." she finally replied, motioning to the small box of leftover vitamins she was giving away earlier.

Sasuke brushed off her reply with a "Hn." and started walking. Sakura followed suit, finding her pace next to him.

She was content to at least end the day walking next to him in the quiet of the summer evening.

"Kumusta ka na?" his voice cut the silence of them walking. Sakura turned to look and saw him looking straight ahead. The twitch under his eyes gave away that he was trying not to look at her.

"Okay naman, madaming ginagawa as you can see." She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. It wasn't like Sasuke to be the first one to break the silence and she could tell he was trying to make conversation. She told her heart, now beating fast, not to have any high hopes because this was Uchiha Sasuke they were talking about. If he had plans to pick up the conversation from her confession years ago then he would've done so already and now wasn't exactly a conducive time nor place to do such. They were both tired and sweat-sticky, doing their last errand of the day. "Wag kang umasa, girl." she told herself inwardly.

"You should take care of yourself more." he told her.

"I am, kaya nga naka-off ako bukas." she stopped to open the door of the health center with her key. She ushered Sasuke in who used the connecting door of the center to go into the barangay hall to deposit the folding table and chair. "Mamamalengke ako bukas at magluluto. It's about time I have a proper home-cooked meal, kung hindi sasabihan ako ng mga pasyente na impokrita ako." she continued, amusement evident in the lilt of her voice as she recalls how she always advised her patients to eat proper food.

She whirled around after making sure that the supply cabinet was locked and almost fell back when she collided with Sasuke's chest, its owner now standing beside her. She was thankful for the bad lighting of the center that hid the blush that crept on her cheeks as she automatically looked up to Sasuke's face. It was unfair how he looked perfect even in his tired state and this bad lighting.

Her thoughts were interrupted when he tapped her forehead with his middle and index finger.

"I'll see you tomorrow, then." he said before turning to take his leave.

Sakura took her hand to her forehead. "What was that?" she murmured to herself as she watched Sasuke's retreating back. Warmth assaulted her senses once more as a smile began to form on her lips. She didn't need to know now, she thought, replaying his words in her head.

"I'll see you tomorrow, then."

Sasuke wasn't the type to go back on his words.


End file.
